Manipal University

About: Manipal University is a education organization based out in Manipal, Karnataka, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 9525 authors who have published 11207 publications receiving 110687 citations.

Comparison of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and functional electrical stimulation (FES) for spasticity in spinal cord injury - A pilot randomized cross-over trial

Abstract: Objective: Spasticity following spinal cord injury (SCI) can impair function and affect quality of life. This study compared the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and fu...

Chromium (D-phenylalanine)3 supplementation alters glucose disposal, insulin signaling, and glucose transporter-4 membrane translocation in insulin-resistant mice.

Abstract: Chromium has gained popularity as a nutritional supplement for diabetic and insulin-resistant subjects. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of chronic administration of a novel chromium complex of d-phenylalanine [Cr(D-phe)(3)] in insulin-resistant, sucrose-fed mice. Whole-body insulin resistance was generated in FVB mice by 9 wk of sucrose feeding, following which they were randomly assigned to be unsupplemented (S group) or to receive oral Cr(D-phe)(3) in drinking water (SCr group) at a dose of 45 mug.kg(-1).d(-1) ( approximately 3.8 mug of elemental chromium.kg(-1).d(-1)). A control group (C) did not consume sucrose and was not supplemented. Sucrose-fed mice had an elevated serum insulin concentration compared with controls and this was significantly lower in sucrose-fed mice that received Cr(D-phe)(3), which did not differ from controls. Impaired glucose tolerance in sucrose-fed mice, evidenced by the poor glucose disposal rate following an intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test, was significantly improved in mice receiving Cr(D-phe)(3). Chromium supplementation significantly enhanced insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation and membrane-associated glucose transporter-4 in skeletal muscles of sucrose-fed mice. In cultured adipocytes rendered insulin resistant by chronic exposure to high concentrations of glucose and insulin, Cr(D-phe)(3) augmented Akt phosphorylation and glucose uptake. These results indicate that dietary supplementation with Cr(D-phe)(3) may have potential beneficial effects in insulin-resistant, prediabetic conditions.

Elucidating Methods for Isolation and Quantification of Exosomes: A Review.

Abstract: Exosomes are the smallest extracellular vesicles present in most of the biological fluids. They are found to play an important role in cell signaling, immune response, tumor metastasis, etc. Studies have shown that these vesicles also have diagnostic and therapeutic roles for which their accurate detection and quantification is essential. Due to the complexity in size and structure of exosomes, even the gold standard methods face challenges. This comprehensive review discusses the various standard methods such as ultracentrifugation, ultrafiltration, size-exclusion chromatography, precipitation, immunoaffinity, and microfluidic technologies for the isolation of exosomes. The principle of isolation of each method is described, as well as their specific advantages and disadvantages. Quantification of exosomes by nanoparticle tracking analysis, flow cytometry, tunable resistive pulse sensing, electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and microfluidic devices are also described, along with the applications of exosomes in various biomedical domains.

A proteogenomic analysis of Anopheles gambiae using high-resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry

Abstract: Anopheles gambiae is a major vector for malaria, which is a main public health burden in many parts of the world. The first draft of the An. gambiae genome sequence was released in 2002 containing ∼278 Mb (Holt et al. 2002). Mongin et al. (2004) discussed the limitations associated with this genome assembly. A gene set annotated by VectorBase contains both manually annotated genes and predicted gene models from GeneWise (Birney et al. 2004), ClusterMerge (Eyras et al. 2004), and SNAP (Li et al. 2007) algorithms. The VectorBase bioinformatic resource provides several annotated and curated vector genomes in a Web-accessible integrated format including DNA and protein alignments (Lawson et al. 2009). Based on manual appraisal, the VectorBase (http://agambiae.VectorBase.org) updated the Anopheles gambiae genebuild (AgamP3.5) in September 2009, which contained 12,604 protein-coding genes. The updated gene sets include 765 novel genes, modification of 3726 gene models, and deletion of 456 genes. The latest genebuild, AgamP3.6, was released in December 2010, which contains 12,669 protein-coding genes. This release includes 227 new genes, changes to the structure of 443 gene models, and deletion of three genes as compared to the AgamP3.5 genebuild. In the VectorBase–Ensembl genome annotation pipeline, genes are annotated based on mRNA/cDNA sequences and comparative proteomic evidence, as well as manual appraisal. Manually annotated gene models are given the highest preference followed by comparative gene models, EST-based models, and ab initio gene models. GeneWise-based prediction uses alignment of dipterans and other protein sequences to the An. gambiae genome for building gene models. The ClusterMerge algorithm builds models based on EST evidence (Eyras et al. 2004). The SNAP and Genscan algorithms were used to predict ab initio models that are also included in the current genebuild (Korf 2004). In the present study, we present many novel findings that were missed in spite of a robust annotation strategy and multiple revisions of An. gambiae genome annotations. The reverse process of genome annotation, i.e., from proteins to the genome, holds great promise for increasing the accuracy of the predicted gene structures. Annotation of genomes using mass spectrometry–based proteomics data is complementary to other gene prediction methods. Direct evidence for the protein-coding potential of the genome sequence can be obtained by searching tandem mass spectrometry data against nucleotide sequences like ESTs or genome sequence databases as against known protein databases (Pandey and Lewitter 1999; Pandey and Mann 2000; Choudhary et al. 2001; Mann and Pandey 2001; Xia et al. 2008). Certain features of peptides can provide definitive evidence pertaining to protein architecture that cannot be obtained from genome or transcript sequencing, e.g., acetylation of N termini of peptides, which indicates proximity to the translation start sites. An important outcome of such analyses is the identification of novel genes that have been entirely missed by other approaches. Protein-coding genes leading to splice variants, truncated proteins, and cSNPs can all also be directly studied by protein sequencing. Several studies have demonstrated the use of mass spectrometry–based proteomic approaches to validate or correct gene annotations in Homo sapiens (Molina et al. 2005; Suzuki and Sugano 2006; Sevinsky et al. 2008; Menon et al. 2009), Caenorhabditis elegans (Merrihew et al. 2008), Drosophila melanogaster (Brunner et al. 2007; Tress et al. 2008), An. gambiae (Pandey and Mann 2000; Kalume et al. 2005a,b; Okulate et al. 2007), Toxoplasma gondii (Xia et al. 2008), and Arabidopsis thaliana (Kuster et al. 2001; Baerenfaller et al. 2008). Here, we present the results of an extensive qualitative proteomic analysis of An. gambiae to better understand gene structures and their functions. We report validation of existing genes, correction of existing gene models, identification of novel genes, identification of novel splice variants, confirmation of splice sites, and assignment of translational start sites based on high-resolution mass spectrometry–derived data. A total of 2682 peptides were identified that could not be mapped onto existing VectorBase annotations. We also used gene prediction models by SNAP, and in some cases by Fgenesh and GenMark, which supported the peptide evidence to identify novel genes or alternate gene models. Finally, we performed RT-PCR and sequencing to support the existence of a number of novel and modified coding regions identified in this study.